CJI On Digital Arrests Scam: 'Well-Educated People Increasingly Falling Prey. A Senior Architect Came To Me Crying'

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday expressed serious concern that well-educated people are increasingly falling prey to digital arrest scam. A digital arrest is a sophisticated cybercrime tactic where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement authorities, government officials and even judges to extort money through psychological confinement. On a direction by CJI led Bench, CBI is already probing the nation-wide digital arrests scam in which several people have fallen victim, losing crores worth hard-earned money."A retired Chief Architect of Chandigarh known to me in official capacity …. being in our Building Committee, came to me during one of my recent visits. She was a victim…her entire retirement benefits gone.. she started crying,"

CJI Kant said in court.“Today evening I will be speaking on this (CBI event at Bharat Mandapam) ...let's see the interest it generates”, the CJI addedThe CJI made the remark when Attorney General R Venkataramani mentioned the suo moto matter pertaining to digital arrest and requested that the matter listed this week may be deferred to May 12 and said high power committee formed by Centre has held meeting and a report is being prepared. "Internal meeting has already been held between departments and a final meeting will be held," said AG.Digital arrest scams have seen a sharp increase with a total of over 1.78 lakh cases report in 2024 and 2025. This is a threefold rise from 2022, as per a government dataFollowing Supreme Court intervention, Centre recently formed a high-level Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) headed by the Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), to combat the rising menace of "digital arrest" scams. The committee, which met with online intermediaries, is focusing on real-time fraud blocking and systemic improvements.Led by the MHA, it includes representatives from the CBI, NIA, Delhi Police, RBI, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. Purpose is to examine digital arrest cases, identify gaps in legislation/implementation, and suggest victim compensation.